Collecting stars like Mario

I've been struggling today to come up with a blog topic, but I've finally decided to do what should be a quick write-up about the MLB All-Star rosters, particularly how the rosters relate to our fantasy league. This will probably be a boring blog for anybody who isn't in our fantasy league, but I feel like about half of my few readers are, so I'm playing the odds.

By the way, I'm typing this blog on our TV, for some reason. I'm also going to try to incorporate a table into this blog, so that could be awesome or disastrous.

One other note before I get to the rosters: I wrote a piece about some Fallout 3 DLC for the Star-News blog. You could read it, if you like.

NL Roster

Starters

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
C	Yadier Molina	Free Agent	281	Yadier was probably voted on more for his defense than his offense, which limits his fantasy league value. Despite that, he's one of the more consistent offensive Cardinals this year.
1B	Albert Pujols	What?What? In the butt....	All of them...	It's pronounced POO-holes. Pujols already cleared 1,000 F-points (1083), and is more than 300 points ahead of the next guy (Justin Morneau).
2B	Chase Utley	Team Huffman	596	Utley is only behind the AL starting 2B in F-points. Solid choice
3B	David Wright	Team Manley	419	Wright is batting .326 (9th in the NL) and has 20 SBs. Those are probably All-Star numbers, but they don't help all that much in our power-driven league.
SS	Hanley Ramirez	Port City Randy Johnson's	722	Hanley is quietly putting together a solid fantasy season and is currently 3rd in our league in F-points.
OF	Ryan Braun	BS's THE BENIS	643	Bryan could not be more pissed about having Braun on his team. He's very tradeable. Also, there's a pitcher named Ryan Braun on KC. I learn all sorts of weird stuff while writing these blogs.
OF	Raul Ibanez	Port City Randy Johnson's	628	Ibanez hasn't played since June 17th, so this is a bit of a surprise, but at least it's not Manny.
OF	Carlos Beltran	What?What? In the butt....	481	Hasn't played since June 21st. See last note.

Pitchers

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
CL	Heath Bell	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	308	The first of my three closers going to the game (thanks to the somewhat arbitrary ordering of this list). 1st place in the NL with 23 saves (on a 35-46 team – that's almost 66% of their wins).
SP	Chad Billingsley	BS's THE BENIS	400	A bit of a surprise as the 7th best SP in our league. Somehow Bryan really lucked into some great SPs.
CL	Jonathan Broxton	Saratoga Redsox	398	The highest rated RP in our league. Gave up 4 runs last night, earning his second blown save of the year.
SP	Matt Cain	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	351	Cain is facing Josh Johnson tonight in a clash of two All-Stars. It's even more interesting because Bryan owns Johnson, and we're facing each other this week.
CL	Francisco Cordero	Dallas RoughRiders	214	Spider-Man: "Everybody gets one." The Reds might have sent my 1B Joey Votto instead if he hadn't missed time with anxiety issues.
CL	Ryan Franklin	What?What? In the butt....	245	I'm surprised a Cardinals closer is in this spot considering the job was up for grabs at the start of the season.
SP	Dan Haren	BS's THE BENIS	472	Should have been the second best Arizona pitcher. Damned Brandon Webb injury. And yes, I'm bitter.
SP	Josh Johnson	BS's THE BENIS	381	Again, Bryan's pitching staff is unreasonably good. He has 4 of the top ten SP in our league. Number 10 is Javier Vazquez, who wasn't selected to the All-Stars.
SP	Ted Lilly	Dallas RoughRiders	303	Spider-Man: "Tell 'em Peter." Peter Griffin: "Apparently everybody gets one." Lilly is 8-6 with a 3.32 ERA. Not spectacular.
SP	Tim Lincecum	Team Huffman	629	Has the haircut of a 15-year-old. Pretty much the Albert Pujols of pitching.
SP	Jason Marquis	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	236	I picked Marquis up today after learning he's an All-Star and that he's starting tonight.
CL	Francisco Rodriguez	Team Manley	254	He's the second guy on this list named Francisco. He should lose points for that.
SP	Johan Santana	Dallas RoughRiders	351	Santana was the first pitcher taken in our draft and the only one selected in the first round, but he's only ranked as the 14th best SP.

Reserves

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
C	Brian McCann	Saratoga Redsox	322	McCann is behind 9 other catchers in our league, including three that are currently free agents.
1B	Prince Fielder	Port City Randy Johnson's	715	Three of the top four players in our league are first basemen.
1B	Adrian Gonzalez	Port City Randy Johnson's	513	Jon hasn't had Randy Johnson on his team since May 1.
1B	Ryan Howard	BS's THE BENIS	640	Howard hasn't hit a home run since June 20th against Baltimore.
2B	Orlando Hudson	Saratoga Redsox	507	Hudson is 1 for his last 28 ABs and is worth a whopping -17 during that stretch (since June 26).
2B	Freddy Sanchez	BS's THE BENIS	418	The Pirates are one of the worst franchises in professional sports. Remember when their best player was Kris Benson?
SS	Miguel Tejada	Saratoga Redsox	469	Possibly one of the most dishonest players in MLB.
3B	Ryan Zimmerman	BS's THE BENIS	390	Most of his points came during the early days of the season. He's hit 2 HRs since May 23rd.
OF	Brad Hawpe	Saratoga Redsox	539	Prevented Jason Marquis from being an "everybody gets one" All-Star. Sixth in the NL with a .327 batting average.
OF	Hunter Pence	Dallas RoughRiders	422	The only player from "The Trade" to make the All-Star team – thanks to Evan Longoria beating out A-Rod for the AL starting 3B spot.
OF	Justin Upton	What?What? In the butt....	496	Outscoring brother B.J. by 101 points on the season. I drafted Justin but decided to drop him early in the season. Now I have B.J. who has outscored Justin by 99 points in the last 15 days, which is about how long I've had him on my team.

AL Roster

Starters

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
C	Joe Mauer	Dallas RoughRiders	517	Currently trails reserve catcher Victor Martinez by 18 F-points, but he missed all of April and is batting .389 thus far.
1B	Mark Teixeira	Dallas RoughRiders	621	Has one of the hardest names to spell in professional sports.
2B	Dustin Pedroia	Team Manley	440	D-Pads is the second highest rated 2B on Holly's team, behind new St. Louis Cardinal and sometimes second baseman Mark DeRosa. Top-rated second baseman Ian Kinsler is in the Final Vote.
3B	Evan Longoria	Saratoga Redsox	535	Top-rated third baseman. Follow-up from last note: DeRosa is the third rated 3B, sixth rated 2B, and 25th rated OF.
SS	Derek Jeter	Team Huffman	441	Follow-up from last two notes: Ben Zobrist (who I'll get to later) is the second rated SS, third rated 2B, and tenth rated OF. Jeter is 4th amongst SS, but he is a Yankee, which really helps in All-Star voting.
OF	Jason Bay	Dallas RoughRiders	606	Matthew, a.k.a. Dallas RoughRiders, is 2-11 on the season despite having at least a third of the AL's starting lineup (pending the announcement of the starting pitcher).
OF	Ichiro Suzuki	Team Huffman	497	Leads the AL in batting average at .362. Surprisingly only trails Jeter in All-Star appearances by one, despite having played six fewer years.
OF	Josh Hamilton	Team Manley	218	Another questionable selection. Fewest F-points for All-Star position player and starter on the year. Only played in 35 games so far; last appearance was in May.

Pitchers

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
CL	Andrew Bailey	Port City Randy Johnson's	223	I had to look at Oakland's depth chart to figure out what position he plays. Possibly the least relevant All-Star.
SP	Josh Beckett	Saratoga Redsox	392	The only Boston Red Sox player on the Saratoga Redsox.
SP	Mark Buehrle	Dallas RoughRiders	232	Suspected Sammy Sosa of steroid abuse.
SP	Zack Greinke	Port City Randy Johnson's	607	Surprise of the season. ERA is right at 2.00 right now.
CL	Brian Fuentes	BS's THE BENIS	227	Bryan's best relief pitcher this year. I'm running out of things to say.
SP	Roy Halladay	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	461	Fourth ranked SP despite missing about two weeks of the season. Was evidently best Pujols trade bait of the year. (Jackling will have to verify that.)
SP	Felix Hernandez	What?What? In the butt....	422	The only Hernandez on a fantasy team in our league.
SP	Edwin Jackson	Port City Randy Johnson's	326	Only 6-4, but has a 2.59 ERA and 93 Ks in 114.2 IP.
CL	Joe Nathan	What?What? In the butt....	282	Second RP drafted (in the sixth round). Ranked 3rd for RPs.
CL	Jonathan Papelbon	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	227	First RP drafted (also in the sixth round). Ranked 11th for RPs.
CL	Mariano Rivera	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	259	I own four of the top 11 RPs in our league, three of which are going to this game. David Aardsma is ranked fourth, but isn't an All-Star.
SP	Justin Verlander	Saratoga Redsox	427	Tied for most earned runs (43) among top ten pitchers with Josh Beckett, also on the Saratoga Redsox.
SP	Tim Wakefield	Free Agent	225	Oldest player ever to make first All-Star team.

Reserves

Position	Player	Fantasy Team	Fantasy Points	Notes
C	Victor Martinez	BS's THE BENIS	535	Only 4 for 47 since June 20.
1B	Justin Morneau	BS's THE BENIS	749	Second best player in our league. Should probably be starting over Teixeira.
1B	Kevin Youkilis	What?What? In the butt....	434	Ranked 18th amongst first basemen behind Final Vote candidate and potential snub Carlos Pena.
2B	Aaron Hill	Port City Randy Johnson's	522	Not surprisingly Jon leads our league in players who play in Canada (2). He's tied with Bryan.
SS	Jason Bartlett	BS's THE BENIS	419	One of two Tampa Bay SSs on the All-Star team, along with Ben Zobrist.
3B	Michael Young	Team Manley	403	Teammate of Final Vote candidate and potential snub Ian Kinsler.
OF	Carl Crawford	Team Huffman	551	Leads MLB with 41 stolen bases, which are worth a paltry two points in our league.
OF	Curtis Granderson	Port City Randy Johnson's	463	Lead-off hitter with 18 HRs on the season.
OF	Torii Hunter	Team Manley	587	Leading Holly's team in F-points.
OF	Adam Jones	Dallas RoughRiders	481	Clearly robbing my boy Matt Wieters of his first career All-Star appearance, just kidding.
OF/IF	Ben Zobrist	Sherwood Forest Sherricks	563	Leading my team in F-points. Probably my new favorite player. Didn't have a starting job at the beginning of the season.

Here's the final tally (which could have been easier to determine if I'd built these tables in Excel instead of in Word):

Dallas RoughRiders: 9 All-Stars (3 starters)

BS's THE BENIS: 11 All-Stars (1 starter)

Team Huffman: 5 All-Stars (3 starters)

Team Manley: 6 All-Stars (3 starters)

What?What? In the butt....: 7 All-Stars (2 starters)

Sherwood Forest Sherricks: 7 All-Stars (0 starters)

Port City Randy Johnson's: 9 All-Stars (2 starters)

Saratoga Redsox: 8 All-Stars (1 starter)

Free Agents: 2 All-Stars (1 starter)

QotD:

AL Final Vote:

1. Chone Figgins, LAA, Team Huffman, 421 F-points
   
2. Brandon Inge, Detroit, What?What? In the butt...., 476 F-points
   
3. Ian Kinsler, Texas, Dallas RoughRiders, 657 F-points
   
4. Adam Lind, Toronto, BS's THE BENIS, 572 F-points
   
5. Carlos Pena, Tampa Bay, Team Manley, 539 F-points
   

NL Final Vote:

1. Christian Guzman, Washington, Free Agent, 248 F-points
   
2. Matt Kemp, LA Dodgers, Team Huffman, 528 F-points
   
3. Mark Reynolds, Arizona, Saratoga Redsox, 470 F-points
   
4. Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco, Port City Randy Johnson's, 502 F-points
   
5. Shane Victorino, Philadelphia, Team Huffman, 524 F-points
   

My take: Ian Kinsler and Pablo Sandoval.